Cruise Report: 2022-07-18 : 07-21

Pot survey

Author

Mike O’Brien (UMCES)

Participants

  • Dave Secor (UMCES)
  • Mike O’Brien (UMCES)
  • Capt. Brendan Harrington (F/V Integrity)
  • Reilly (F/V Integrity, mate)

Pot deployment cruise, 2022-07-19

Overall

  • 06:30 Meet at F/V Integrity, load remaining gear and prepare for departure
  • 06:40 Depart dock, transit to C0622_1 (randomly-selected control site)
  • 09:09 Arrive at C0622_1
    • 09:10 Begin deploying pots
    • 09:13 Finish deploying pots, transit to C0622_2 (randomly-selected control site)
  • 09:35 Arrive at C0622_2, begin deploying pots
    • 09:38 Begin deploying pots
    • 09:42 Finish deploying pots, transit to A-5-2 (experimental turbine site)
  • 10:13 Arrive at A-5-2, begin deploying pots
    • 10:16 Begin deploying pots
    • 10:19 Finish deploying pots, transit to A-9-6 (experimental turbine site)
  • 10:40 Arrive at A-9-6, begin deploying pots
    • 10:42 Begin deploying pots
    • 10:45 Finish deploying pots, transit to A-9-2 (experimental turbine site)
  • 11:12 Arrive at A-9-2, begin deploying pots
    • 11:14 Begin deploying pots
    • 11:17 Finish deploying pots, return to West Ocean City, MD
  • 13:37 Arrive in West Ocean City, MD

Description

Survey deployment

Wind speed was <5 knots, coming from the southwest (as reported by Capt. Harrington). Waves were 3-4 ft with swells near 5 feet. Cloud cover was 3 tenths of the sky. Control sites ranged in depth from 110 - 110 ft, with turbine sites ranging from 90 - 110 ft.

During transit to the first site, the Integrity’s speed was 7.1 - 8.9 kts, with an average of speed of 7.86 kts.

Capt. B. Harrington and mate stacked the pots on the boat starting at 04:00 on July 19. Ground line between pots was coiled and placed into the next pot in the sequence. At least two pots were accidentially not attached to the ground line during this process. This may have been part of the reason for pot losses noted during recovery.

Pot recovery cruise, 2022-06-30

Overall

  • 02:30 Meet at F/V Integrity, await arrival of captain and mate
  • 03:21 Mate does not show. Depart dock, transit to C0622_1
  • 05:46 Arrive C0622_1.
    • 05:51 Northern trawl anchor (“block”) recovered.
    • 06:02 Pot recovery complete. Transit to C0622_2.
  • 06:34 Arrive C0622_2. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 06:35 Northern block recovered.
    • 06:46 Pot recovery complete. Transit to A-5-2.
  • 07:29 Arrive A-5-2. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 07:31 Western block recovered.
    • 07:41 Southern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to A-9-6.
  • 08:12 Arrive A-9-6. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 08:13 Northern block recovered.
    • 08:23 Pot recovery complete. Transit to A-9-2.
  • 09:05 Arrive A-9-2. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 09:06 Northern block recovered.
    • 09:18 Pot recovery complete. Return to West Ocean City, MD.
  • 12:00 Arrive in West Ocean City, MD.

Description

Dock departure was pushed back an hour due as the vessel’s mate did not show up. B. Harrington and D. Secor decided to depart without a mate after waiting for 1 hour. Wind speed was <5 knots, coming from the southwest (as reported by Capt. Harrington). Waves were 2 feet. Cloud cover was 0-1 tenths of the sky.

Pots were recovered in the same manner as in the 2022-06-27 report.

M. O’Brien pulled pots onboard with the assistance of Capt. B. Harrington, reporting catch per species, per pot to D. Secor. Fish from the first 5 pots were placed in the “near” tote with fish from the subsequent 10 pots placed in the “far” tote; this was in error, as the first six and last 9 pots were supposed to be combined according to experimental protocol. Due to how the pot strings were recovered, the “near” pots were the northernmost pots, and the “far” pots the southernmost.

Dominant species were black sea bass (28) and Jonah Crab (15), with sand dollars, sea stars, and one seahorse also present. 26 of the 72 recovered pots were empty. There was no significant difference in black sea bass catch between control and turbine sites or near and far sections of the lines (\(\chi\)-squared, \(p >\) 0.05).

Total length (mm) and weight (g) of all black sea bass were recorded, culling the first five from each “near” and “far” section and releasing the others. Total lengths of other fish species were also recorded. Black sea bass ranged in total length from 182 - 314 mm, with a mean of 224 mm (minimum legal size 280 mm). Weights ranged from 100 - 460 g, mean of 192 g. There were no significant differences in length or weight between control and turbine sites or near and far sections of the lines (ANOVA, \(p >\) 0.05).

Catch and size data summaries are shown in the sample summary section below.

Station information

datetime depth wind_speed wind_dir wave_height cloud_cover_10th lon_start lat_start lon_end lat_end notes
deploy
C0722_1 2022-07-19 09:10:56 110 <5 SW 3-4 1 −74.73569 38.20184 −74.73470 38.20353 5 ft rollers
C0722_2 2022-07-19 09:38:58 114 <5 SW 3-4 1 −74.68446 38.23143 −74.68376 38.23349 Issues with pot #14
A-5-2 2022-07-19 10:16:14 110 <5 SW 3-4 3 −74.66237 38.30231 −74.66505 38.30244 NA
A-9-6 2022-07-19 10:42:36 98 <5 SW 3-4 3 −74.72672 38.30335 −74.72579 38.30509 NA
A-9-2 2022-07-19 11:14:41 90 <5 SW 3-4 3 −74.71613 38.36981 −74.71578 38.37214 Track not recorded
recover
C0722_1 2022-07-20 05:51:05 110 <5 SW 2 1 −74.73458 38.20328 −74.73530 38.20201 Marked 1st block twice
C0722_2 2022-07-20 06:35:17 113 <5 SW 2 1 −74.68358 38.23333 −74.68399 38.23184 Check snoods. 1 pot lost on bottom
A-5-2 2022-07-20 07:31:09 109 <5 SW 2 1 −74.66449 38.30256 −74.66235 38.30275 NA
A-9-6 2022-07-20 08:13:58 94 <5 SW 2 1 −74.72610 38.30516 −74.72670 38.30357 NA
A-9-2 2022-07-20 09:06:41 99 <5 SW 2 0 −74.71566 38.37206 −74.71578 38.37036 NA

Cruise map

Sample summary

Catch

N min average max sd
June - Control far 18 1 1.4 2 0.51
near 10 1 2.5 5 1.73
Total 28
June - Project far 6 1 1.2 2 0.45
near 5 1 1.2 2 0.50
Total 11
July - Control far 18 1 3.0 6 2.00
near 11 1 1.6 3 0.98
Total 29
July - Project far 13 1 1.2 3 0.60
near 4 1 1.0 1 0.00
Total 17

July 2022 catch

The blank bars on the right show the count of pots with no catch.

Fish measurements

Total length (mm)

Weight (g)